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Four hostages freed in raid on hideout
Successful operation overshadowed by at least 15 deaths after car bombs go off
John Hooper in Rome and Michael Howard in Baghdad
The Guardian
Three Italians held by insurgents in Iraq for the past two months and a Pole snatched last week were rescued yesterday during a raid by coalition special forces.
The Italians were abducted in April along with a colleague, who was shot in the head while in captivity.
Videos of their ordeal - and the (…)

by MFSO Member Dante Zappala
Dante Zappala teaches history at Fremont High School in Los Angeles.
His brother Sherwood Baker was killed in action in Baghdad on April 26, 2004. This essay was published in the Los Angeles Times.
Not long ago, $250,000 bought you a house, a car, started a college trust fund and still left you with enough for dinner at the Olive Garden. Today, $250,000 gets you a dead soldier.
My brother, Sgt. Sherwood Baker, was killed in action in Baghdad last month. (…)

The stand
Camilo Mejia is the first US soldier serving in Iraq to proclaim himself a conscientious objector. But as disillusion with the war grows among the US army and public, he is unlikely to be the last, says Suzanne Goldenberg
The Guardian
For six months last year, Staff Sergeant Camilo Mejia led his squad on countless missions through one of the most treacherous parts of Iraq in which to be a US soldier: the town of Ramadi in the Sunni triangle. He survived roadside bombs and (…)

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe’s government announced plans today to nationalise all Zimbabwean farmland after forcing more than 5000 white farmers off their properties in an often-violent redistribution program.
Title deeds to all productive land will be cancelled and replaced with 99-year state-issued leases, the state-run Herald newspaper reported.
"In the end all land shall be state land and there shall be no such thing as private land," Land Reform Minister John Nkomo was quoted as saying. (…)

WELL, that wiped the smile off their faces. Labor supporters had been unable to contain their glee at the prospect of the Peter King-Malcolm Turnbull stoush in Wentworth, Sydney, occupying the headlines in the run-up to the federal election when Labor’s leadership decided to even things up by parachuting Peter Garrett into the Labor stronghold of Kingsford Smith. Right next door, thank you very much.
The logic behind this astute political manoeuvre is that the former president of the (…)

Even more than the murderers who took my son’s life, I condemn those who make policies to end lives
Michael Berg
My son, Nick, was my teacher and my hero. He was the kindest, gentlest man I know; no, the kindest, gentlest human being I have ever known. He quit the Boy Scouts of America because they wanted to teach him to fire a handgun. Nick, too, poured into me the strength I needed, and still need, to tell the world about him.
People ask me why I focus on putting the blame for my (…)

Dear friends an comrades,
We want to invite you to join the meeting for the preparation of our partcipation in this years esf-process. At the bottom of this Mail you’ll find a text from colectivo presente which gives a short summary of the aims of the meeting and the alternative space at the esf. The meeting is going to take place in Berlin, Köpenickerstr. 55 in the "Verdi"-House (Verdi is a german Union). It’s going to start Friday, 18th June at 19.30h, and we have rooms for the (…)

Notice: this is only a short summary . A long version of minutes will be published soon on the UK list To subscribe http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/uksocialforum To send email uksocialforum@lists.riseup.net There were people from London Social Forum, Leeds Social Forum, Manchester Social Forum, Sheffield Social Forum, Liverpool, St Denis Social Forum (France), Red Pepper, Madrid Social Forum (Spain)
The meeting was interesting and constructive.
After introducing each other we (…)

Liberation Central website offers a front section with a compilation of articles with honest accounts of Reagan’s historical legacy for those who understand hegemony (domination through culture, language, symbols, institutions and force) and counter-hegemony (resistance through all of the above).
LIBERATION CENTRAL
http://clix.to/jterpst

( ** Please forward to all who may be interested - everyone welcome! **)
Canterbury-Bankstown Socialist Alliance & Friends of GreenLeft Weekly present
Turn LEFT @ Bankstown Solidarity Dinner
SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKER: Stephen Hopper, lawyer for Mamdouh Habib. Habib has been held without charge for over 2 years at Camp X-Ray in Guantanemo Bay, and recent revelations indicate he has suffered torture.
Saturday June 19th, 6:30pm Bankstown Senior Citizens Centre, 9 West Terrace (…)